DICV helps sell 1,060 Fuso trucks in Jan-Feb in Africa

Daimler Trucks Asia is looking to accelerate its growth in Asia and Africa – with active assistance from Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). 

In the first two months of the year, it has sold 1,060 Fuso trucks compared to 580 units in January-February 2013. On March 20, Daimler had launched its five-model Fuso truck range, made at Daimler India Commercial Vehicles’ plant in Chennai, in Tanzania, making it the fourth market (Kenya, Sri Lanka, Zambia are the first three) since the start of DICV exports in May 2013.

Daimler is leveraging the strengths of its CV companies Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC) and DICV under the ‘Asia Business Model’. To strengthen Daimler Trucks Asia’s presence in growth markets, both companies rely on an integrated product portfolio for more variety as well as an optimised production network with the truck plants in Kawasaki, Japan, and Chennai, India, as the main production sites.

Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler Board of Management member responsible for Daimler Trucks & Buses, said: "As a global manufacturer of commercial vehicles, we want to expand our leadership in traditional markets and develop new markets. We employ intelligent platforms to align our products optimally to the requirements of each market. Our Fuso brand is well established in Africa and Asia. In combination with the products from our Indian production, we want to increase our sales in these important growth markets. "

Dr Albert Kirchmann, head of Daimler Trucks Asia and MFTBC president & CEO, commented: "A growing economy results in an increased demand for the transport of goods. Of this, we intend to benefit in Southeast Asian and African markets with Fuso. We have managed a successful start with Fuso in Africa, but we are not concerned about the rapid success. Our activities in these countries are long-term."

Daimler Trucks Asia has planned investment of 300 million euros (Rs 2,500 crore) from 2014 to 2018 in international sales and production programmes to drive growth. By the year 2020, it is targeting global sales of around 290,000 units of the Fuso and BharatBenz brands. The designed-for-emerging markets Fuso trucks are delivered in 11 other export markets: Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Thailand and Uganda.